Wednesday, 13 January 2010

What I'm talking up this weekRunning "on your toes" is the way to go. Why? Because you can move your legs faster, you can run with a quicker tempo. It's not actually on the toes, it's a forefoot landing rather than a heel landing. With a heel landing your foot-strike has a decelerating effect; with a forefoot landing it can have an accelerating effect. The trick is to combine the forefoot landing with an active posture and an attempt to leave the foot on the ground for as little time as possible. An active posture is one with tummy in, back straight, head high but looking slightly down and shoulders down and relaxed, arms moving vigorously, hips forward, everything working to propel yourself forward and up, bottom not tending to sit. Leaving the foot on the ground for as little time as possible means focussing on lifting the foot off the ground rather than focussing on placing the foot on the ground. Simple, eh? There's no reason why a quick tempo should compromise stride length too much, and for us oldies a quick tempo is something we can develop more easily than a lengthened stride, because as we age stride tends to shorten.